Sylvain Loosli Reigns Victorious in the €10,300 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller
It took quite the effort from Frenchman Sylvain Loosli, but he managed to rise to the top of the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT €10,300 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller. Loosli outlasted a total of 70 entries and defeated Georgios Kitsios to claim the €198,610 first-place prize.
It was a back and forth heads-up battle that saw both players hold serious chip leads at different points. Loosli's Greek counterpart was willing to push the action but it was the Frenchman who got paid off in two critical pots. The ladder came when Loosli went for value with second pair and it worked out for him, earning him the chip lead again.
In the final hand of the evening, Kitsios risked his 15 big blind stack with king-five but Loosli had him dominated with ace-five. Kitsios could not hit a three-outer and by the river, Loosli made a flush and closed out the tournament in roughly six hours on Day 3.
Loosli has been a force on the high roller scene as of late and now he is finding success close to home. Born in France but now living in London, England, Loosli has over $7.1 million in career tournament earnings and his resume continues to grow.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Sylvain Loosli | France | €198,610 |
| 2nd | Georgios Kitsios | Greece | €142,590 |
| 3rd | Seth Davies | United States | €92,680 |
| 4th | Charlie Carrel | United Kingdom | €69,940 |
| 5th | Erik Seidel | United States | €54,320 |
| 6th | Joao Vieira | Portugal | €42,100 |
| 7th | Ole Schemion | Germany | €33,270 |
| 8th | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | €25,800 |
| 9th | Pablo Melogno | Uruguay | €19,690 |
Day 3 Summary
Only six players returned to the felt for the final day and Charlie Carrel came in as the overwhelming chip leader. Loosli, on the other hand, was the short stack but still had enough chips to remain patient. Joao Vieira was the first player to be eliminated when he ran his ace-jack into the ace-king of Carrel. Erik Seidel soon fell to the shortest stack and also succumbed to the ever-growing stack of Carrel. Seidel's king-jack was not good enough to win a flip against Carrel's pocket nines and the field was quickly down to just four.
That sparked the first of Loosli's double ups and he would go on to find plenty more of those - five in total on the day to be precise. It also turned the tide for Carrel who sent a couple of big pots to Kitsios, relinquishing the chip lead. Carrel was unable to stop the downward spiral as he eventually got all of his chips in the middle after flopping the nut flush draw. Unfortunately for him, Kitsios held pocket aces and Carrel was unable to come from behind.
The final three players were left to battle it out and it continued for nearly three hours. Even without any eliminations for quite some time, the chips were still flying around the table as each player grabbed the chip lead at some point. Loosli was forced to double up a couple of times to make it a three-way push to the finish. Once he managed to grab a sizeable lead over his two competitors, Kitsios and Seth Davies got involved in a large pot.
Kitsios was able to disguise the strength of his hand by his aggressive play style and it worked in his favor. Kitsios turned a king-high flush and Davies turned top pair into a straight on the river. All of the chips got in the middle and Davies was barely covered, forcing him to exit in third place. That made room for the rollercoaster heads-up battle between Kitsios and Loosli.
While only six players returned for the final day, a total of nine players made the money. Ole Schemion (7th Place - €33,270), Thomas Muehloecker (€25,800), and Pablo Melogno (€19,690) were all eliminated in the last level of Day 2. Philipp Gruissem was the unfortunate soul to be eliminated on the money bubble and left the tournament with nothing.
The opening high roller event was a great introduction to the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT festival, allowing many players getting their feet wet before the larger buy-in tournaments unfold. Many of the participants were quick to jump into the €100,000 Super High Roller that began earlier today and will continue over the next couple of days.
That wraps up the coverage for this event but there will be plenty more to come from the PokerNews live reporting team over the course of the festival.